With roles in DEXTER, the new STAR WARS video game and SMALLVILLE, actor Sam Witwer has seemingly corned the market on evil. Well, playing evil that is. Which is exactly what this TV Addict started off asking him about when I was given the opportunity to chat with the actor about his newest role as Davis Bloome/Doomsday on SMALLVILLE.
Let me start off by asking. What’s with all the dark characters?
Sam Witwer: SMALLVILLE approached me and said we need an actor to be extraordinarily dark, yet really sweet and vulnerable. On DEXTER I played the devil, in THE MIST I’m probably the nicest guy in the movie, so I’m not sure what they saw. But it’s exciting to be on SMALLVILLE, it’s been really fun and I’m happy about it.
Before we delve into SMALLVILLE I’d like to take a moment to discuss another killer “D” you’ve been associated with. I had no idea until I started doing research for this interview [and by research, this TV Addict naturally is referring to pulling up your imdb profile] that you played the fraudulent Ice Truck Killer on DEXTER!
No one realized I was on DEXTER but it was really fun to work on. I got to shave my head and fake that I was the Ice Truck Killer. Nobody recognizes me, which I actually find really flattering because as actor you strive to make every character different.
Your character Davis Bloome is making his first appearance on SMALLVILLE tonight. What can you tell us about him?
Davis is a paramedic in Metropolis and is a really sweet, conscientious and moral guy. So if you’re tuning into SMALLVILLE tonight, you’re not going to see a d*ck or a lunatic. Unfortunately, it just so happens that he’s also Doomsday and when he finds out about it, he isn’t too happy.
Finds out about it?
The thing with Davis is that he has blackouts and at first he doesn’t know what is happening to him. But he wants to discover what is happening to him and as the season wears on, the character is really going to be dragged through the mud and slowly come to grips what goes on when he blacks out.
Since in the comics, Doomsday is the only character to have killed Superman, would it be safe to assume that Davis will eventually embrace his darker side?
You never know. I don’t really know what’s going to be happening as far as them [Clark and Doomsday] throwing down because we’ve sort of re-imagined the backstory and turned Davis into a realistic human being who’s a really good guy who tried to do the right thing.
Who would you say Davis will be interacting with most on SMALLVILLE?
Chloe and Davis become fast friends and as the season progresses he certainly goes to her for help. She is perhaps the only person he really trusts.
Moving on from Doomsday to another Evil “D”, you also provided the voice and movement for Darth Vader’s Apprentice in the just released video game STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED. How different is acting in a video game versus television and film?
They’re not entirely different. The video game has about an hours worth of an animated movie, which we shot at ILM [Industrial Lights & Magic] over the course of three weeks. Using digital markers that they positioned all over my face, ILM motion captured my entire performance so that everything you see when you play the game on your XBox360 or PS3 is me. The game itself tells an incredible STAR WARS story. It sets up episode four and we really did our best to imbrue the game with the feelings from the original STAR WARS films. And I’ve been very pleased with the response.
And finally, being a huge BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fan, I couldn’t let you go without asking you about your work as “Crashdown.” Were you disappointed with how your character’s journey played out?
Not at all. I think there was a little bit of a miscommunication when I was hired as to what I’d be doing on the show and how much I’d be involved. I wasn’t the happiest actor, having moved to Vancouver only to be under-utilized. So I went to David Eick [GALACTICA Executive Producer] and said you’re paying me too much. I’m a series regular and if you’re not going to use me, hire some kid to do a day for five hundred bucks. Basically it was use me or kill me in a really cool way.
The stuff they wrote was awesome in terms of Crashdown’s death and leading up to it. My whole background with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was that I saw the miniseries and fell in love with it and had my agent contact Ronald D. Moore to see if I could guest on the show. It was frustrating being on the show and not being able to contribute. But by the end, I got to contribute and left the show on very good terms. In fact when Ronald D. Moore was asked whose death affected him most on the show, he said mine.
So you’d be okay if I start a rumor that Crashdown is the fifth and final cylon?
[Laughs] People often say, maybe Crashdown can come back as a Cylon. But I don’t think it would be a good idea story-wise. You’d invalidate his death. Let him rest.
It’s nice to see you’re still such a fan of the show. As a self-proclaimed TV Addict it’s always nice to meet actors who love the medium in which they work in.
I Love BATTLESTAR GALACTICA [and DEXTER] and again, because my tenure ended on such a positive note, it allowed me to continue and be more of fan. 
You can catch Sam Witwer’s first appearance on SMALLVILLE tonight at 8PM on the CW [SunTV in Canada]
Photo: Michael Courtney/The CW ©2008